diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 419ca090..6796b7b4 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+  - fix escaping of backslashes in Smarty_Compiler::_quote_replace() (messju)
+
 Version 2.6.3 (June 16, 2004)
 -----------------------------
 
diff --git a/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php b/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
index 77939f81..1a3ea9ac 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
@@ -2120,7 +2120,7 @@ class Smarty_Compiler extends Smarty {
      */
     function _quote_replace($string)
     {
-        return preg_replace('![\\$]\d!', '\\\\\\0', $string);
+        return strtr($string, array('\\' => '\\\\', '$' => '\\$'));
     }
 
     /**